Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 317

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1901 Registrar J. M. Macgregor

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
443	19 August 1901	James Arthur Back Catherine Williams	James Arthur Williams Catherine Meagher 💍 1901/3567	Bachelor Spinster	Vocalist	35 31	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 4 months	Roman Catholic Church	01/4039	19 August 1901	Rev. M. J. Marnana, Roman Catholic
444	19 August 1901	Albert George Eurex Lillie Beatrice McGregor	Albert George Eveoex Lillie Beatrice MacGregor 💍 1901/3615	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 26 years	Congregational Church, Worcester St.	01/3865	19 August 1901	Rev. J. Sangerson, Congregationalist
445	19 August 1901	Charles Frederick Quook Margaret Matilda Mauger	Charles Frederick Snook Margaret Matilda Mauger 💍 1901/3317	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Housekeeper	25 22	Linwood Woolston	7 years 12 years	St. Johns Church	01/3803	19 August 1901	Rev. G. S. Fielding, Anglican
446	19 August 1901	Henry John Back Alice Mary Last	Henry John Shand Alice Mary East 💍 1901/3324	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 25	Christchurch New Brighton	33 years 25 years	Anglican Church	01/3834	19 August 1901	Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican
447	19 August 1901	Neville Speakly Back Flora Mary Tombs	Neville Speechly Flora May Tombs 💍 1901/3329	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist	23 25	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 25 years	St. Michaels Church	01/3874	19 August 1901	Rev. A. W. Averill, Anglican
448	20 August 1901	Francis Henry Fish Mary Ethel Sheffield Cox	Francis Henry Fish Mary Emily Sheffield Cox 💍 1901/3331	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	32 29	Christchurch Christchurch	10 days 29 years	St. Michaels Church	01/3826	20 August 1901	Rev. C. G. Averill, Anglican
449	20 August 1901	Samuel Buggy Ada Victoria Marshall	Samuel Buggy Ada Victoria Marshall 💍 1901/3286	Bachelor Spinster	Cabman Domestic	34 28	Christchurch Christchurch	13 years 28 years	Registrar's Office	01/3770	20 August 1901	J. M. Macgregor, Registrar
450	22 August 1901	George Englefield Caroline Becks	George Englefield Caroline Becks 💍 1901/3307	Bachelor Spinster	Carter Domestic	29 24	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 10 years	St. Lukes Church	01/3816	22 August 1901	Rev. H. Lingard, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1901. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).